I haven't seen anything like that in my garden so maybe the cardinal's getting them from the woods... or I don't see any because the cardinal is eating them all! If they are pests, I guess that's a good thing, but since this last one looked like a caterpillar, I wondered if it might be a butterfly larva...
I'm in zone 6/7 border, hawthorn is in full bloom, German irises, native azaleas, coral honeysuckle are coming into bloom, mountain laurel is budding, and maple helicopters are flying, if that helps. Elsewhere, buckeyes are in full bloom (I really want one of those... saw one at a garden center yesterday but it had a badly broken leader
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